One Step Closer to Graduation

For those of you who read my last post about my presentation jitters (hey Lex!) you'll know that I completed the final piece of my summer internship last Thursday.  I found out my grade earlier this week (B+ I'll take it!) and am now officially 9 credits away from graduation in December!

I didn't blog much at all about my internship really so here's a recap of what I learned this summer from my internship.

Don't intern at the company you work for regularly UNLESS the company has an actual internship program and/or the "internship" is better planned by management.  I found out the hard way that taking an internship making an internship out of convenience doesn't always result in the greatest learning experience and can lead to frustration with employees of the company that you WILL see again on a daily basis.

I'm really good a following step-by-step directions and as a result can catch on quickly.  No joke I had a co-worker tell me this to my face like it was a compliment.  I bit my tongue and held back the "no shit thanks.  Any chimp can do this!" and smiled and said thank you. Of course I went home and vented to my mom who sympathized with me so that I could come back the next day and try not to be a B to the woman who said this to me.

I like to feel included in the group and not forgotten.  I'm pretty sure a lot of people would agree with me on this one.  Referring back to not interning at the company you regularly work for - it was because I did this that it was easy for the department I was interning with to not worry about me being downstairs away from their group and forgot to let me know about department lunches (missed 2 of them) and fun food days like Dilly Bars from DQ.  I also had an employee (same one that thinks I'm awesomely as smart as a chimp) tell me to my face they forgot about me.  Yeah.  Awesome right?

Procrastination is my middle name.  Nothing really new here.  I knew this going in, thought about how I should avoid procrastinating on putting together the materials to hand in and the presentation I had to give, and discovered once again that I truly dislike feeling unprepared and could avoid it all if I didn't love to procrastinate like it's my job.

It might sound like I'm ungrateful that the company I work for allowed me to complete my internship with them this summer based on all the complaining I just did but trust me I'm not!  It was because I wanted to be able to go back to my awesome flexible job that I wanted to intern at the company during the summer.  Let's face it, it would have been awkward to intern outside the company and then say "oh by the way can I come back Sept-Dec so I can work awesome flexible hours until I graduate and find a different job?"  They jumped at the chance to help me in any way that they could to get me the 3 credits for the internship.  Hindsight is always 20/20...I know now what to ask for/make sure I get if I ever had to do this experience over again.

And did the department I intern for provide me with everything I needed from them for my internship paperwork and materials to hand in at the end of the summer?  Yes!  Because of that Yes! I earned 3 credits toward graduating in December.  3 credits I'm not sure how I would have earned in time otherwise.  (I'm sure there would have been a way but my advisor made it sound differently so I went with it.)

So, overall was the summer internship a success?  Yeah, earning the credits I need (the MOST important part to me) definitely happened but learning about accounting, meh not so much.

Presentation Jitters

Hi friends!  It's been a while since I've posted, sorry about that!

Since my last post a month ago I've celebrated some birthdays (mom's and aunt's), gone on vacation to Chicagoland Speedway (this past weekend actually!), and cranked out a PowerPoint presentation in the last 48 hours that I will present tonight.

The PowerPoint presentation is about the internship I completed this summer.  Probably not my finest work I'm sure because I am procrastination at its finest.  Not only did I complete my internship at the end of August so I have had three weeks prior to this one to put together the presentation but I also wasted away a day at home to work on it by doing anything but! (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterst, TV, etc...)

I normally get nervous for presentations, even when I'm prepared in advance, so the fact that I waited until last night to actually make the PowerPoint has only added to my nervousness.  I had a hard time getting to sleep, it was past 2am when I finally did.  And then I woke up this morning and after making sure everything printed (it hadn't) and running through my checklist of things I needed to have done I was already feeling sick.

I am at work today for 8 hours but I have two fifteen minute breaks and I'm sure I'll use some of my lunch break (30 minutes) to run through the presentation at my desk.  But we all know running through it in your head is totally different than actually having practiced what you're going to say out loud.  I can't change the past so I'm going to have to run with what I've got and hope for the best.

Wish me luck friends!!

Questions for you...
Do you get nervous when you need to speak in front of a group?  How do you handle the nervousness?  Any tips for me?

Do you procrastinate or are you on top of your game with things you need to do?  Any tips from former procrastinators on how to procrastinate less?